The Safety Paradox – Football, Helmets and The Peltzman Effect

The Peltzman Effect describes how safety regulations can often be counter-productive as they don’t take into account how peoples behaviour might change. The lesson here, from football helmets to car safety, is that any new regulation should be considered carefully lest the rule of unintended consequences completely undermines it. As they say, the devil is in the details …

Selected Sources

NFL Concussions Fast Facts - https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/30/us/nfl-concussions-fast-facts/index.html

Football VS Rugby - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2013/jan/28/american-football-rugby-more-dangerous

Rugby Tackling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HihjPApzCg

New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/opinion/sunday/nfl-cte-brain-damage.html